Drilling appliance.



F. M. DALE. DRILLING APPLIANCE. APPLICATION FILED JUNE 2|, I918- Patented Apr. 22, 1919.

55 nected to the supportingrod or fixed shaft FRANK M. DALE, 0F SULLIVAN, INDIANA.

DRILLING APPLIANCE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Apr. 22, F912.

Application filed June 21, 1918. Serial No. 241,116.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FRANK M. DALE, a citizen of the United States, residing at Sullivan, Sullivan county, and State of Indiana, have invented and discovered certain new and useful Improvements in Drilling Appliances, of which the following is a specification.

My'invention relates to well drilling appliances and the objects of the-invention are to provide means to render practicable for oil well boring, appliances of that type in which rotary cutting means are adapted to form successive cores of earth in their drilling descent; to increase thefacility and rapidity of the removal of the successively excavated masses of earth in machines of this whether the same be employed for oil type drilling or for other boring purposes,

well

and particularly in accomplishing the above general ends; to provide means whereby only the cutting tool and its operating mechanism are required to beoperated in separatingthe successively formed cores from the earth and merely the removal of such tool and its mechanism from the hole required to permit the removal of the material without necessitating the withdrawal of the surrounding-casing; and to generally improve the construction of drilling appliances.

With these objects in view, my invention is embodied in preferable form in the construction and arrangement hereinafter described and illustrated in'the accompanying drawings.

In these drawings, Figure 1 is a vertical section of a well drilling casing and drilling appliance; Fig. 2, a bottom section on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1, showing the core cutters constituting the principal feature of my invention; Fig. 3, a section on the same line showing the core cutters forced into their core cutting position; Fig. ha bottom plan looking up, of the cutting core bit; Fig. 5, a detail of the lower end of the core shell and Fig. 6, a detail perspective of a modified form of the core cutters.

Referring to the drawings. 1 indicates a well casing adapted to be driven into the well as the hole is bored. 2 indicates a raising and lowering cable for the well drilling mechanism, which cable may be secured to the end of a squared connecting bar 3 fixed in the head i of the sliding guiding shell a provided with guides 6. This bar is conby produeine a relative rotative frame 18.

. squared, central 7 of an electric motor 8. The revolving armature shaft 9 of this motor extends from the lower end thereof and on this shaft are fixed under cutters 10 adapted to enlarge the hole formed by the boring bit so as to permit the casing to more readily descend. Fixed to the armature shaft so. as to rotate therewith is a hollow, cylindrical shell 11, constituting the rotary core bit. lhis core bit is provided in its lower circumferential edge with cutters 12 adapted to cut into the soil and form a cylindrical hole. Mounted on pivot pins 13 fixed in slots 14: formed in the shell of the core bit 11 are swinging cutter members 15 having cutting points 16 at their ends. These cutter members are-adapted to lie on the surface of the wall of the core bit within the slots when closed in inoperative position as shown in Fig. 2, and they are adapted to be swung inward toward the center of the core bit by means of pins 17 projecting downwardly from a hollow shell or frame 18 mounted within the cylindrical core bit. This inward. movement of the cutters by their contact against the pins 17 is effected g movement between the. frame or shell 18 and the surrounding core bit whereby the cutters travel against the pins and are thus caused to swing on their pivots. The frame or shell 18 is provided with depending shoulders 19, one opposite each swinging cutter member and adapted to project downward against the inner edge of the latter to normally retain the same in closed or inoperative position upon the slot wall of the core bit and adapted to be released from such retaining engagement by an upward movement of the shell or At its upper end the shell 18 is head or disk, 2@ having a opening adapted to engage a squared head 21 at the lower end of therotary driving shaft 9. A spring 22 bears against the disk 20 and serves to normally maintain the frame in its downward position and with the squared portion thereof in engagement with the head 21. Above said head 21 is a reduced circular portion 23 to which the squared aperture of the dish 20 is adapted to be lifted to permit of the release of the frame or shell. 18 from engagement with the rotary shaft so as to enable the said frame and the shaft and core bit to he rotated relatively. To enable this relative movement to be obtained a coiled spri is secured at one end of a boss risiir provided with a I lit -As the core bit descends squared head 21 on the shaft and is the disk 20 of the interior shell 18 and at the other end to the core bit. This spring is adapted to be wound up so as to impose a tension upon the same before the squared aperture in the head 20 is engaged with the wound in such a direction that it will tend to unwind in a direction opposite to that of the rotation of the core bit, so that when the shell is released from fixed engagement with the shaft the spring 24 will impose a tension upon the shell tending to turn it oppositely to the movement of the core bit so that a relative rotative movement will be produced between said parts by means of which the cutters will be carried against the pins 17 and thus forced inwardly toward the center. The operation of the device is as follows The hole is drilled by the rotation of the shaft 9 through the electric motor 8 and as such drilling proceeds the drilling mechanism is gradually lowered b T means of the cable 2 and at a desired depth, the casing 3 is inserted into the hole thus formed, the pivoted under cutters 10 preferably preceding the casing and cutting the hole wide enough for the free insertion of the latter. the material cut from the earth-will be forced up within the same in the form of a core. 'VVhen the uper end of this core which may, of course, be composed either of loose earth, sand, mud or water or solid rock, bears against the head 20 of the shell 18 it will lift said shell thus releasing the shoulders 19 from engagement with the inner edges of the core cutters 15 and in the farther upward movement of the shell the latter will slip ofl' the squared head 21 of the shaft, thus releasing the shell from engagement with the shaft, whereupon the wound spring 24: will tend to twist the shell in the opposite direction of rotation to that of the core bit. The rotation of the core bit is continued but the latter is prevented from further descent by holding taut the cable 2, whereupon the core cutters 15 in the rotary movement of the bit relative to the shell 18 will ride against the pins 17 forcing the cutters inwardly so that they will out After the core has been out the drillin mechanism is raised by means of the ea le :2 up through the casin carrying with it, on the cutters 15, suc

part of the core as may be capable of being supported thereby and then the remainder of the core is removed by a suitable bail as is customary. By this method it will be seen that the core may be removed for inspection of the material excavated at different depths or to enable the well to be cleared without the removal of the casing or without operating the same to effect the separation of the core from the earth below through the core.

it. In the upward movement of the drilling mechanism the under cutters ed to swing down as the same through the casin In Fig. 5, there isshown a modification of means for rocking the cutters on their pivots consisting of cutters 25 mounted 011 the lower ends of shafts 26 adapted to extend up through the wall of the fioor bed and to the upper ends of'which shafts are fixed plates 27 carrying pins 28- adapted to engage in cam slots 29 formed in the'upper head of the core operated shell, which may be of similar construction to that shown in Fig. 1.

It is clear that various means -'of operating the core cutting members may be employed without departing from the principle of my invention.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is 1. A drilling appliance having a rotative hollow core bit having boring cutters, core severing means, means for controlling the operation of said severing means and normally rotatable with the bit and automatically operable by the contact of the core therewith to establish a relative rotative relation between the same and the bit, and including means for effecting the operation of said severing means by said relative rotation of the parts.

2. A well drilling appliance having a rotative hollow core bit, pivoted horizontally swinging-core cutters, a member normally rotatable and vertically movable with the core bit and adapted for limited yertical movement relative thereto by contact of the core therewith to release said member from rotation effecting engagement with the bit, means for detaining said member to establish a relative rotation between the same and the core bit and means carried by one of said parts for forcing the cutters inwardly upon such relative movement to effect the cutting of the core.

3, A drilling appliance having a rotative hollow core bit, swinging core cutters mounted upon said core bit, a hollow member having a limited vertically sliding movement and mounted within said core bit and having means for normally fixing it to the bit for rotation therewith and releasable from such fixed engagement by contact of the core therewith, a spring for holding said member against rotation withthe core bit and contact means carried by the said member for operating said cutters in the relative rotative movement of the core bit and said member.

4. A drilling appliance having a rotative hollow core bit, horizontallyswinging out ters mounted on said core bit, a hollow vertically slidable member mounted within said core bit and having means of fixedenga ement with the' rotating bit, a spring ar holding said member in such engagement,

10 are adaptare drawn up means to release said member from said enleasing them from such engagement when gagement by contact of the core therewith, the member is operated by the core.

ajspring under tension and acting to tend. In witness whereof, I have hereunto set to turn said member in the opposite direction my hand and seal at Indianapolis,' this 5 to that of the rotation of the core bit, con- 17th day of June, A. D. nineteen hundred 15 tact means carried by said member adapted and eighteen. to bear against the cutters to swing them in- FRANK M. DALE. [1,. s.]

wardly to cut the core and means carried Witnesses:

by said member for normally retaining, the H. P. DooLri'rLE,

'10 cutters in inoperative position and for re- M. L. SHULER. 

